New challenge to centuries-old theories on Roman glass

It's not about proving people wrong, it's about correcting the historical record and reviving and restoring a technique lost for over 2,000 years. New research from The Australian National University (ANU) is challenging centuries-old theories on how ancient Roman cameo glass was made and suggests the British Museum's most famous Roman glasswork is wrongly classified. Associate Professor Richard Whiteley from the ANU School of Art and Design will present his new evidence at a historical glassworks conference at the British Museum next week. Associate Professor Whiteley believes archaeologists, historians and museum curators have for hundreds of years incorrectly classified Roman cameo glass from the period of around 30BC-50AD as blown glass - including the British Museum's most famous example; the Portland Vase. "There was a critical moment for me when I felt strongly that historians and archaeologists have been wrong for hundreds of years," Professor Whiteley said. Professor Whiteley, who is known internationally for his glass artworks, said his research over the past decade indicated the Roman cameo glass was not blown glass, but was made by a cold-pressing process now known as pate de verre. His research was based in part by examining a fragment of Roman cameo glass from the ANU Classics Department under a Computed Tomography scanner at the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering.